The United Nations peacekeeping mission reported that a scuffle broke out today, Friday, between its forces and security forces from Turkish Cypriots on the ethnically divided island of Cyprus due to unauthorized construction activities in a United Nations-controlled area. Footage of the incident showed individuals in Turkish Cypriot military and security uniforms dealing roughly with members of the UN peacekeeping forces. The footage also showed bulldozers moving UN trucks, concrete blocks, and barbed wire in the UN-managed buffer zone that divides the island.
The incident occurred in an area known as Sector 4, which is under the control of a Slovak military group. The area has been reinforced with British peacekeeping forces. UN mission spokesperson Aliem Sadiq stated that three peacekeepers sustained injuries requiring hospital treatment, adding that one soldier was "kicked to the ground." However, no gunfire was reported.
The United States, Britain, and France, three of the five permanent members of the Security Council, condemned the incident on Friday. The embassies of the three countries issued a joint statement saying, "These actions are completely unacceptable and undermine the UN's ability to fulfill its peacekeeping mandate."
The dispute revolves around plans by the Turkish Cypriot authorities to construct a road through an area that the UN claims is under its control. The incident took place in the Pila area, located at the eastern edge of the buffer zone. The 180-kilometer land corridor, guarded by the UN, divides Cyprus from east to west between the Turkish and Greek sides.
The Turkish Cypriot authorities plan to build an 11.5-kilometer road connecting Pila to a nearby settlement in the breakaway northern part of Cyprus. The UN has already expressed concerns that this move could destabilize the current situation. Sadiq stated that the international organization had engaged in discussions with the Turkish Cypriot authorities regarding their plans, but work began without regard for the UN's conditional agreement.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus urged the Turkish Cypriot side in a statement to respect the mission's authority within the UN buffer zone and to refrain from any actions that could escalate tensions, and to withdraw all personnel and machinery from the UN buffer zone immediately.
Cyprus has been divided since the Turkish invasion in 1974 following a short-lived coup, and numerous attempts to reunite the island have failed. The UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus is one of the longest-running active peacekeeping missions in the world, originally deployed to quell violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s.
